Hit 200 brake jobs in 3 years and noticed an annoying pattern

Most of them were on Honda Civics and Toyota Corollas. The rear calipers always seize up if people skip the fluid flushes. Had a 2018 Civic come in last month with a completely frozen slide pin. Customer said they never changed the brake fluid. 60k miles and the caliper was toast. Anyone else see this mostly on certain makes?

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3 Comments

parkernelson5mo ago

Switched to using wire brush and brake cleaner on every slide pin even if they look clean. Also started telling people at 30k miles that skipping fluid flushes kills calipers, showed them the black sludge coming out of the old fluid. Hasnt fixed every stuck caliper but cut it down maybe 40% on the Toyotas. The civics seem to have a crappy slide boot design that traps moisture no matter what you do.

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the_abby4mo ago

Wait, isn't the fluid flush thing overhyped by shops trying to upsell?

5

sandra_black5mo ago

Slide boot design is definitely the real problem there.

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